Stop the World begins with a harbinger of the destruction to come: the slow pop and hiss of a turntable. This reminder of vinyl’s fragility quickly erupts into what the London noise rock duo once described to me as “an apocalypse of love harps.”

If this summer didn’t already have a glut of anthems to soundtrack your next sunburn, Slumberland Records have some indie pop heroes to introduce to you. Summer Cats stick their feet in the door before the fall turns on their winsome debut, Songs For Tuesdays. The Melbourne quintet’s aesthetic is a teen angst-addled conflation of Stereolab’s thrust and The Smiths’ melancholia. Throwing in references to several C86 groups helps too.

Musical mastermind Patrick Watson—a recipient of Canada’s Polaris Prize in 2007—has returned in 2009 to offer up Wooden Arms. A dreamy collection of lush and inspired arrangements, Wooden Arms recalls Andrew Bird’s warm, delicate vocal range and intricate instrumentation.

Moderat, the amalgamation of German electronic suits Apparat and Modeselektor, has returned after an abrupt split back in 2002, and this eponymous debut reveals influences drawn from dubstep, ambient techno, and glitch.

If audiences in 1969 were used to LPs built around 3-minute hit singles, the musical landscape of 2009 is one of dwindling record sales and endlessly shuffling MP3 players. Four decades have passed since its original release, but Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul remains resolutely sui generis. Its four tracks—the longest of which reaches well over 18 minutes—makes for a radical, revolutionary masterpiece.

The first song on this compilation is the promising “Here Comes Success.” This is no coincidence. Despite their promise and talent, Royal City didn’t make it. They skirted the spotlight, never quite connecting with a wide audience for whatever reason. Arcade Fire opened for them. Constantines shared their label. Sufjan Stevens was a fan (as evidenced by his putting out this record). And yet, Royal City didn’t find their place.

Brooklyn’s Lights certainly concocts a strange sonic stew on its second album. It starts off with the swirling psychedelia of “Heavy Drops,” which segues into the jumpy guitar groove of “Can You Hear Me,” a track that includes a lazy sax solo that sounds like it was sampled from Billy Joel’s The Stranger.

The debut full-length from Discovery, the long-gestating hipster R&B project from Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (Ra Ra Riot), is a little boring. Listeners need look no further than the cover art, an agreeable, organized grid of Ellsworth Kelly-esque pastel blocks that promise non-threatening, vaguely ironic fun.

Sometimes you’ve got to loosen your tie and try to remember that not everything is such a rigid business. Hockey’s debut album, Mind Chaos, is here to help you out. The tracks freely move through a shortlist of genres: “Too Fake” boasts a dance punk influence, “Song Away” references a New Wave pop sound à la The Cars, and “Four Holy Photos” pops out with its country sauntering and close harmony.